Surely we know that a DVD or Digital Versatile Disc most usually associated with audio visual data, and especially movies. But progressively we are hearing about a thing called Bluray. But what the differences are, and should you as a consumer even really care? The answer may surprise you because sooner or later you will not be able to ignore Bluray.

What are the differences between DVD and Bluray?
To put it simply, Bluray is a superior format to DVD. It is superior in several key ways.
? It has vastly greater storage area. It can store 6-10 times as much data as a DVD depending whether the DVD is ‘dual layer’ or not
? Bluray uses a blue laser to read the data, unlike a DVD which uses a red laser
? The Blue laser allows much more data to be read and therefore stored, because it occupies a shorter frequency bandwidth
? DVD uses a red laser which is a longer frequency bandwidth
? A DVD therefore cannot store as much data as a Bluray disc
? Both formats are physically the same size
? Bluray has less titles available, but this is increasing all the time
As you can see, Bluray does the job of storing data on a disc better, with the only real downside being that it requires a higher level of precision to read and is perhaps more prone to accidental scratching.

So, why Bluray?
In February 2008 Toshiba, who had supported High Definition DVD, announced that they would not be developing the format further. As a result of this most of the industry followed their lead and the ‘format war’ between DVD and Bluray was effectively over. Bluray titles were only rolled out in 2006 which illustrates just how superior the format is. Although DVD will linger on awhile yet, there will come a time when it is obsolete. This makes the choice for Bluray pretty straight forward. As with any new format there is a transition period, but in the case of Bluray it is all happening very quickly. If you are buying new playback equipment you really don’t have much of a choice – DVD is yesterday’s format.